Instructor-Led Program

Our engaging instructor-led programs provide focused learning opportunities where students can ask questions, collaborate and problem solve with the guidance of our Georgia Aquarium Educators.

Please see below for information and details on our Grade 8 Instructor-Led Programs:

  • 8.1 Ocean of Energy
  • 8.2 Advancing Atoms
  • 8.3 Kinetic Konnections

8.1 Ocean of Energy

Description:

We know that light, color, and heat can transfer into different mediums, thus using and requiring lots of energy. Those same types of energy can directly affect living organisms. What happens when we introduce light, color, and heat above and below the ocean surface? Students will get to explore colors within the ocean, how conduction and convection of waters can create and sometimes destroy a whole ecosystem, and look at the effect of gravity on tides and fish.

Georgia Standards of Excellence

  • S8P2. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the law of conservation of energy to develop arguments that energy can transform from one form to another within a system.
    • d. Plan and carry out investigations on the effects of heat transfer on molecular motion as it relates to the collision of atoms (conduction), through space (radiation), or in currents in a liquid or a gas (convection)
  • S8P4. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to support the claim that electromagnetic (light) waves behave differently than mechanical (sound) waves.
    • d. Develop and use a model to compare and contrast how light and sound waves are reflected, refracted, absorbed, diffracted or transmitted through various materials. (Clarification statement: Include echo and how color is seen but do not cover interference and scattering.)

8.2 Advancing Atoms

Description:

Atoms as we know are the basic foundation to creating the world we live in today. Atoms are all around us and they are constantly moving, but when they are put under the influence from an outside source sometimes they can change for the better or the worse. Students will get to observe how atoms move at different states, change physically or chemically depending on their circumstances, the impact of density and how a particular state or matter is not what it always seems.

Georgia Standards of Excellence

  • S8P1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the structure and properties of matter.
    • b. Develop and use models to describe the movement of particles in solids, liquids, gases, and plasma states when thermal energy is added or removed.
    • c. Plan and carry out investigations to compare and contrast chemical (i.e., reactivity, combustibility) and physical (i.e., density, melting point, boiling point) properties of matter.

8.3 Kinetic Konnections

Description: 

The basic foundation of life is atoms, and when bonded and interacting with other atoms can display fascinating phenomena. What happens when we go beyond a science lab and apply those phenomena to living, breathing organisms? Students will learn how animals use electric, magnetic, and gravitational forces to survive, as well as how kinetic and potential energies go beyond the basics of food.

Georgia Standards of Excellence 

  • S8P2. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the law of conservation of energy to develop arguments that energy can transform from one form to another within a system.
    • b. Plan and carry out an investigation to explain the transformation between kinetic and potential energy within a system (e.g., roller coasters, pendulums, rubber bands, etc.).
  • S8P5. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about gravity, electricity, and magnetism as major forces acting in nature.
    • a. Construct an argument using evidence to support the claim that fields (i.e., magnetic fields, gravitational fields, and electric fields) exist between objects exerting forces on each other even when the objects are not in contact.
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